Syria: Research Center, Two Other Sites Hit

Israeli attack "led to the fall of a number of martyrs and wounded" and to "widespread destruction."

By Gil Ronen

First Publish: 5/5/2013, 9:01 PM

Explosion near Damascus

Screenshot from Youtube

The Syrian foreign ministry statement said Sunday that three military sites had been hit in an Israeli nighttime aerial raid: a "research center" at Jamraya, a "paragliding airport" in the al-Dimas area of Damascus, and a site in Maysaloun.

"The flagrant Israeli attack on armed forces sites in Syria underlines the co-ordination between 'Israel', terrorist groups and... the al-Nusra Front," the statement said, referring to al-Qaeda terrorists fighting alongside the rebels against the Assad regime.

"The Israeli attack led to the fall of a number of martyrs and wounded from the ranks of Syrian citizens, and led to widespread destruction in these sites and in the civilian districts near to them," Syria added.

"This leaves no room for doubt Israel is the beneficiary, the mover and sometime the executor of the terrorist acts which Syria is witnessing and which target it as a state and people directly or through its tools inside," the official statement charged.

Jamraya is "the highest profile research centre in Syria," and the workplace of many of the country's top scientists, according to the BBC. "It is also one of Syria's most secretive institutions, with employees banned from communicating with any foreign agencies or foreigners especially during time of war and crisis, like now.

"It is believed that Syria's most important research is carried out at the site, while weapons are developed and stored there."